Fănică Luca
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Fănică Luca (5 April 1894 - 26 October 1968) was a Romanian musician and a pan pipe virtuoso, who was the first to make this instrument popular outside his own country.
His real name was Ştefan Luca Iordache. He learnt music from his father, who played the Nai, the Romanian pan pipe, in an orchestra of "Lăutari", Romanian folk music musicians. Fănică Luca him self would also play in such orchestra's, developing great skills and gaining a reputation as a pan pipe virtuoso.
In the 19th century the "Nai" - originally a shepherd's instrument with only 8 to 10 pipes, covering a little more than one octave - had been extended tot about 20 pipes, giving far greater possibilities to a solo performer. Remarkable is the fact that Fănică Luca never learnt reading musical scores: he always played by the ear.
In 1910, at the age of only 16, he made his first international concert tour, during which he spent some months in İzmir, Turkey. Between 1920 and 1929 he regularly played in the best restaurants of Bucharest and his fame spread all over Romania. In 1929 he performed in Warsaw and Paris.
It were his concerts at the Universal Exhibition of Paris (1937) which gave the pan pipe its first popularity in the West. In 1937 Fănică Luca received the "Palme d'Or" from the French Ministry of National Education.
He also performed at the New York World's Fair in 1939. Thereafter he gave concerts in Russia, China, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and the USA.
In 1949 Fanică Luca started teaching playing the pan pipe. In 1951 he received the distinction of "Eminent Artist" from the Republic of Romania, the highest distinction a musician could get.
Fănică Luca was the teacher of a whole generation of famous Romanian pan pipe performers, such as Damian Luca, Damian Carlanaru, Constantin Dobre, Radu Constantin, Radu Simion (his son in law), Nicolae Pîrvu and Gheorghe Zamfir. Most of his best pupils scattered all over Europe and America, driven by the dictatorial regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu.
Fănică Luca died in Bucharest on 26 October 1968.
